The European Union plans to lift sanctions against two Russian businessmen and a Slovak citizen associated with the pro-Kremlin biker group Night Wolves, whose case Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has repeatedly supported and discussed with senior EU officials, Euractiv reports, UNN writes.
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The EU has frozen the assets and travel bans of approximately 2,000 individuals and entities believed to have been involved in or profited from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, some of these sanctions expire on March 15, including those against Slovak businessman Josef Gambalek, whom Fico has repeatedly advocated for, the newspaper writes.
"After returning to power in October 2023, Fico raised the issue with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his state visit to Germany in January," the publication notes
"(Hambalek) has done nothing to harm Slovakia's national interests, and it is unprecedented that a Slovak and EU citizen has been included in the sanctions list just because of his love of motorcycling," Fico said at a press conference in late January.
Gambalek was reportedly added to the sanctions list in the summer of 2022 for supporting the Kremlin's interests in its aggression against Ukraine.
"Josef Hambalek is the president of the European branch of the nationalist motorcycle club Nightwolves MC, based in Slovakia. He may be associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other representatives of the Russian government," the current EU sanctions list reads.
"Gambalek has long-standing contacts with politicians from Smer Fico's party, especially Defense Minister Robert Kaliniak, who also seems to be a passionate biker," the newspaper writes.
Two diplomatic sources told Reuters that in addition to Gambalek, the EU is not extending sanctions against two Russian businessmen - Arkady Volozh, co-founder of Russian Internet giant Yandex, and Sergei Mndoyanets, who is in charge of government relations at Russian conglomerate Sistema.
One of the diplomatic sources said that these three sanctions clauses were recognized as "unjustified from a legal point of view." "Thus, the sanctions against all these entrepreneurs will expire on March 15," the newspaper writes.